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I thought the Eifel Tower was in France and not the CBI.I found this by pure accident
WikipediaFrom?
Got a chart?
326 at 500 ft for Hurricane V.
From?
Got a chart?
Wikipedia
Reply embedded after Hurricane V.Hawker Hurricane variants - Wikipedia
Sea Hurricane Mk IIC
Hurricane Mk IIC version equipped with catapult spools, an arrester hook and full naval avionics; 400 aircraft were converted and used on fleet and escort carriers. The Merlin XX engine on the Sea Hurricane generated 1460 hp at 6,250 feet (1,900 m) and 1435 hp at 11,000 feet (3,400 m). Top speed was 322 mph (518 km/h) at 13,500 ft (4,100 m) and 342 mph (550 km/h) at 22,000 ft (6,700 m).
Hurricane Mk V
Two Hurricane Mk Vs were built as conversions of Mk IVs, and featured a Merlin 32 engine driving a four-bladed propeller. As the ground attack role moved to the more capable Hawker Typhoon, production of the Hurricane ended, and only a handful were delivered with the Merlin 32.
By this time, the Hurricane was no longer a frontline fighter in the United Kingdom. However, it still saw extensive service overseas as a fighter, playing a prominent role in the Middle East and Far East. It was also critical to the defence of Malta during 1941 and early 1942.
Hawker Hurricane - Wikipedia
Hurricane Mk V
The final variant to be produced. Only one was built and 2 mark IV converted, and the variant never reached production. This was planned to be powered by a Merlin 27 but also tested with a Merlin 32 boosted engine to give 1,700 hp at low level and was intended as a dedicated ground-attack aircraft to use in Burma. All three prototypes had four-bladed propellers. Speed was 326 mph (525 km/h) at 500 ft, which is comparable with the Hurricane I despite being one and a half times as heavy.
No, don't think so. A PR Hurricane I could do 350 mph, I assume at 7000 feet with 16 lbs boost, no armament. So 326 on 1700 up with just 2 m/c guns seems more than feasible to me. Of course, add 2 X 40 mm cannon and you lose 50 mph and if 8 rockets instead probably 80 mph as that's what the Mustang lost. Hurricane IV was down to 206 mph.
Do you think there may have been a typo there?
http://www.spitfireperformance.com/seafirel2cads.jpg
The critical latitude of the Merlin 32 was 1,750ft in the Seafire IIC and the maximum speed was at 5,000ft.
Bullshit. You could add 35 mph to a Spitfire V if you took out all those features that made it combat ready and cleaned it up, so unlikely in the field. Even the Sea Hurricane Ib could do 317 at 7000 and that had arrestor hook, catapult spools, even had 8 m/c guns. Sort of combat ready?"Speed was 326 mph (525 km/h) at 500 ft, which is comparable with the Hurricane I despite being one and a half times as heavy".
And this is a big part of the trouble with Wiki. Misprints/typing and somebody confusing or leaving out such minor details as the height at which speeds were achieved. Also comparing gross weights and not the weights at which the speeds were achieved.
Assuming the 326mph is correct (and not the 322mph) and that 5000ft is the correct altitude a MK I Hurricane using 12lbs of boost did make 326mph. but it did it at 10,000ft. at 5,000ft it did about 304mph and at 2000ft it was doing about 293mph. This is on 12lbs of boost, yes using 14lbs or 16lb will show improvement but few, if any, land based Hurricanes used thos boost settings.
The "one and a half times as heavy" is a real laugher. As noted the speed seems to be for the clean MK V and a clean MK V was in now way, shape or form 1 1/2 times heavier than a MK I.
No combat ready MK 1 (armor, self sealing tanks and at least a two pitch prop) was under 6,000lbs. actual gross weight for most was 6600-6700lbs? Max gross weight for the MK V was 8500lbs. without under wing loads it was 7500lbs or under.
I would say the chances of a MK I PR Hurricane hitting 350mph, especially at 7000ft, are about zero.
View attachment 547815
From, obviously, Spitfire performance.
Now the 16lbs boost was only good at 5,500ft and it slowly tapered off to the 12lbs boost at 9,000ft, granted you can pick up 1000ft or more due to RAM. We can see the difference the 12lb boost rating made, expecting another 4lbs of boost to get the plane anywhere near 350mph is pretty hopeless at the lower altitudes.
My information on the PR MK I is sketchy so please add to it. One source says 8 were converted in North Africa, complete with Vokes filters, but the tactical recon versions kept their guns. A few Hurricane Is were converted to high altitude Photo Reconnaissance (PR) Mark I Hurricanes with fuel tanks replacing the guns, number unknown (to me anyway) and there were MK II versions of both which might lead to confusion on performance?
Bullshit. You could add 35 mph to a Spitfire V if you took out all those features that made it combat ready and cleaned it up, so unlikely in the field. Even the Sea Hurricane Ib could do 317 at 7000 and that had arrestor hook, catapult spools, even had 12 m/c guns. Sort of combat ready?
Hurricane I had a maximum speed of 316mph at 17,750ft with the Merlin III.
Find it hard to believe the Sea Hurricane would get the same speed 10,000ft lower.
care to expand on that?
You are ignoring the difference in Altitude by bringing in the Spitfire MK V, do you have an actual test report for such a cleaned up Spitfire?
Some Spits were rebuilt several times, One MK XIII PR Spit started as a MK fighter, got converted to a MK V and then had it's cannon yanked, left with 4 machine guns, had a Merlin 32 and 4 blade prop installed. There were 26 MK XIII PRs built and they were converted from Spitfire MK IIs, MK Vs and PR MK IGs.
On page 214 of "The Spitfire Story" By Price there is a test of such a PR MIII. It has a rearview mirror with hemispherical fairing, external BP glass windscreen, no IFF aerials.
test is from March 1943. Top speed was 349mph at 5400ft. boos tis not given but since climb figures of 4,920fps at 2,000ft and 3,690fpm at 10,000ft are give I think we can assume it was not limited to 9lbs boost.
Internal machine guns cause little drag. most of it would be from the ejection slots in the bottom of the wing. There is also some question as the actual armament of the Sea Hurricane MK Ib.
Most sources say 8 guns, There appear to have been two different MK IBs. the first 300 were converted MK Is and retained the 8 gun armament. In Nov 1941 25 MK IIAs with eight guns were converted with arrestor hooks and catapult spools. IIAs had eight guns, for record keeping these screwed things up because they were called both Sea Hurricane MK IBs and Hooked Hurricane IIs in official documents, (source "Hawker Aircraft since 1920) the Sea Hurricane IC used 4 cannon wings on a late production Sea Hurricane Is. No mention is made of a Sea Hurricane with 12 machine guns. Other sources may differ.
Sea Hurricane at 317mph at 7000ft fits nicely on the above chart. about 5-6mph faster at 7,000ft using 16lbs boost and with the extra drag of the arrestor hook, catapult spools, etc.
Certainly doesn't prove anything one way or the other about 350mph photo recon Hurricanes.
'The Spitfire Story' by Alfred Price, 2nd edition, published 2002. Farnborough 1943. EN946, a Spitfire VB, max speed 357 mph. Page 140.
Multi ejector exhausts, 7 mph.
Carborettor ice guard, 8 mph.
New rear view mirror, 3 mph.
Whip aerial, 0.5 mph.
Flush cartridge case and ejector chutes, 1 mph.
Sealing all cracks, rubbing down, painting and polishing leading edge, 6 mph.
Waxing rest of aircraft, 3 mph.
Total 28.5 mph increase in speed.
The Tomahawk was a good plane, just totally unsuitable for the channel front.The AVG reported doing many of these exact things in China in 1942 to achieve the same (speed) goals. IIRC they got a 10 mph speed improvement overall.
The Tomahawk was a good plane, just totally unsuitable for the channel front.
I don't think that the P-40 have a much greater range than the Spitfire V, which was the standard Spitfire at the time of the P-40 (Kittyhawk) being used in the ETO.
Wiki gives a combat radius of 410 miles for the Spitfire VB and a range of 716 miles for the P-40E. Joe Baugher gives 650 miles Curtiss P-40E (Kittyhawk IA).
I will have to confirm that later.
The US aircraft during Bodenplatte were P-51s, which had a better range than the P-40.
Kittyhawks were apparently used as fighters in the ETO:
"When the Tomahawk was used by Allied units based in the UK from February 1941, this limitation relegated the Tomahawk to low-level reconnaissance with RAF Army Cooperation Command and only No. 403 Squadron RCAF was used in the fighter role for a mere 29 sorties, before being replaced by Spitfires. Air Ministry deemed the P-40 unsuitable for the theater. UK P-40 squadrons from mid-1942 re-equipped with aircraft such as Mustangs."
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk - Wikipedia
Checked in Morgan and Shacklady and the range was 395 miles for a Spitfire V without overload tank.